Hi there!
My youngest was on a roll this past week. She asked for toast the other day with “that poisonberry jam” on it. I, of course, started laughing and couldn’t stop and then told her it was boysenberry jam. Too cute.
Then the other night I had an appointment and put a shirt on that has these designs all over it – one being straight across my ass. She asked what the markings meant and I told her that it was tribal for wide load. She laughed and laughed and then said, “what’s tribal?” then paused, “and what’s a wide load?” Omg I thought my sides would split I was laughing so hard. When I explained it to her she laughed even more – the stinker. lol
So last Sunday I was so sick I didn’t read at all. I just laid on the couch and stared at whatever the kids happened to be watching. I did see the movie Lost in Austen which was kind of cute but I can’t say I remember too much about it! lol The rest of the week I just read so there are quite a few books:
I started off with The Lone Texan by Jodi Thomas. This is my first Texan read by Thomas. I read this one for The Book Binge and will let you know when my review posts.
Next up was a total impulse buy/read: wtf by Peter Lerangis. I was shopping for Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh at Barnes and Noble and even 2 days after it was released I had to go searching cuz it wasn’t on the shelves. Arg! I hate that. I found it on a cart in the middle of BFE B&N which was just weird. Anyway, for some reason it was next to wtf and I just kind of flipped through wtf for a minute and decided to buy it – it was a Simon Pulse so I knew it was a YA book. It turned out to be good, but not great. It was 6 alternating pov’s and corresponding timelines and how they all interact and effect each other. Basically the story of a drug deal that wasn’t really a drug deal gone wrong. The details that initiated it, the characters involved, what happened before, during and after. The book definitely kept my attention and it was pretty short (well, 250 pages but a small tradepb and large font) but the ending just didn’t do it for me. Everything just came out smelling too much like roses and in real life I just couldn’t see it happening. Maybe if it had been set in an alternate universe but not when it’s a contemporary novel. 3 out of 5
Next up was my Tracy’s TBR Challenge read which was An Affair Before Christmas by Eloisa James. I could swear that I’d read a book by her before but after looking at her website I don’t think I have, but I liked it. For a historical though it was set up much like I’m used to UF books being with all of the different stories going on at the same time. Because of that I thought that the main romance suffered for it. It was still good but not as great as I thought it could be. The main story is between the Duke of Fletcher and Poppy, the Duchess of Fletcher. They meet and fall immediately in love. Four years later they are completely frustrated with each other. Poppy just lays in bed and doesn’t respond to Fletch no matter what he does to her and Poppy leaves because she’s frustrated with him as well but for different reasons. I discovered during my perusing of James’ books that this is book 2 in the Desperate Duchesses series. I haven’t read book 1 but unless you all feel I need to I think I’ll just move on to book 3. Anyone think I must read book 1 first? 3.75 out of 5
After that I moved on to On The Edge by Ilona Andrews. This was another new to me author. I did attempt to get into her Kate Daniels series but it just wasn’t for me. But this book? This one I really liked. It’s just a great mixture of fantasy, paranormal, romance and a bit of horror. It was such a mish mosh but it really worked for me. It pretty much takes place in the Edge which is a world between the world of the Broken (our world) and the Weird (a magical place). The Edge has magic too, but not like the Weird. The main characters are Rose from the Edge and Declan from the Weird. Good story. Since this is book 1 in a new series I’ll be interested to see where the story goes next. 4.25 out of 5
After seeing that I was debating about reading Jet Mykles’ Dark Elves series, Tam was nice enough to send me the 2 print books which included the first 4 stories. I have to say that after starting the first story in book 1, Taken, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be reading further. You see these Dark Elves were created by the goddess Rhae to be her consorts (read: fuck toys) and when she left the earthly plane she discovered that she’d made an error – there were no women. How were the elves to continue procreating? So she gave the elves a spell that would help turn human women into elves. So the elves kidnap women, set the spell and then they all go about taking 9 day turns with them until they (hopefully) find their truemate – that one woman that can have their babies (which are all male, btw). If the women don’t find their truemate they are then put into the brothel because the can never leave the underground city. The whole premise put me off a bit. And the heroine in book 1 was just prickly. She was a warrior so I could see that she wouldn’t stand for being kidnapped but I just couldn’t like her…and she fell in love in what felt like a millisecond, which I don’t care for. Since I’d started book 1 I decided to finish it and go on to book 2. This is the book that made me want to read more. As usual Jet Mykles has a way of getting me into the stories and I found myself reading not just one book but both. The second story, Mastered, was better than the first, imho and I liked the characters more. Book 2 which included stories 3 – Salvation & 4 – Dissent were even better. These had more of a political intrigue to them along with the romance and sex and that held my interest. I now find myself wondering what the hell happens next. lol I guess I’ll have to go find out. Taken 3 out of 5 Mastered 3.25 out of 5 Salvation 3.5 out of 5 Dissent 3.5 out of 5
Last on the list for the week was The Christmas Ball an anthology with stories by Jennifer Ashley, Emily Bryan and Alissa Johnson. All the stories are different but all end at the Hartwell’s Christmas ball. It’s interesting to think of everything that was going on at the ball at the same time at the end. They were all sweet little romances and I enjoyed the book overall – with Traditions by Alissa Johnson being my favorite I thinkl. I imagine it would be difficult to write a short historical like that but I really felt that they all did a great job. Overall rating 3.75 out of 5
I hope you all have a great week!
Happy reading
I'm so glad you're feeling better! But, uh oh, not so glad that oldest is down for the count. Will hold my breath and cross my fingers for youngest.
You can do without the first book in the Duchess series. What they all do is set up the last book, but you've already gotten the idea from this one.
So glad you're feeling better and reading at speed, Tracy. 🙂
I agree about the James. ;P Sooo glad you liked On the Edge, I'm looking forward to following that series. And, can't wait to read your review of The Lone Texan. 🙂
Glad you're better – and that at least you were better before the youngun got sick, too.
Ok, I'm glad to read what you think of the Dark Elves series. That's just not going to be one I pick up, I can tell.
Glad you enjoyed them Tracy. I never did like the heroine from the first book every time she showed up later. She was prickly to say the least and not very likable. I thought he deserved better. LOL I haven't read 5 even though I have it. It has more of an m/m storyline but also includes m/f, not sure about menage, I don't remember.
Glad you're feeling better. Hope the kids manage to escape with a mild case.
I'm glad you're all feeling better! Oh, so hard to be sick with a family – I can't imagine. I love that tribal for wide load. LOL.
I'm also glad to see you enjoyed that new Ilona Andrews, since I'm staring at it in my TBR shelves right now. And whew, that Jet Mykles sure has some imagination! That is quite the plot setup with those dark elves!
Glad to hear from you!! Sorry your daughter is sick 🙁
For Ilona Andrews, try the third one. I think the third one is great 🙂 The first and second are so-so.
Glad to see you're feeling better! Hope your daughter is able to beat it quickly.
I've been curious about Jodi Thomas' Texan books. I really liked Rewriting Mondays by her. I'll be looking forward to your review!
I really liked On the Edge. It had such a warped fairy tale feel to it. I agree with Nath, too. Each subsequent book in the Kate Daniels book is better than its predecessor, and #3 was awesome.
Have a great week, Tracy!
I'm really glad to hear that both you and your husband are feeling better. Fingers crossed your daughter is feeling better soon!
IMO don't think you need to read the first in the Desperate Duchess series. I have the fourth near the top of my TBR list.
Have been waiting to hear what you think of the Dark Elves books. Hmmm. Interesting premise…
Oh Tracy, I am glad to hear that you and hubby are on the mend… but I am very sorry to hear that oldest has it! My prayers will be with you and your family! But oh those books you have are really good… I can not wait to hear your thoughts… Hope your tomorrow is great honey!
Hope your oldest feel better asap, and I pray your youngest doesn't get sick at all.
Ooh, I saw Lost in Austen and thought it was cute… might just buy the dvd, too 🙂
Lori – the oldest seems to have come down with a mild case which is wonderful! Thanks for the well wishes.
Good to know about the Duchess series – I really didn't want to go back but would have if y'all felt it was necessary.
Hilcia – thanks! On the Edge was different but really good!
And you were so right about Brad and Bonnie in The Lone Texan – that was a really great part of the book.
Chris – Yeah, the Elves aren't for everyone. I thought I would be hung up on their look – with the onyx skin and white hair – but I hardly noticed it. The passing of the woman thing is mentioned in other books but it's not as squicky. lol
Tam – I'm glad you agree about the heroine in the first book. Like you I didn't really care for her in the other stories either.
CJ – Wide Load – omg that was just classic! I need to start a book that has all of their funny sayings in it.
Yep – Jet does have a vivid imagination, but she makes it work for her and that's a huge plus.
Nath – I won't lose anything in the translation, as they say, if I start with book 3 of the Kate Daniels series? I imagine things are set up, will I be confused?
Renee – I've had another of Thomas' older Texan books that I won but I hadn't read it yet. Reading one for TBB was a good push. 🙂
On the Edge was kind of a warped fairy tale – good way of putting it. It just worked for me. 🙂
Orannia – thanks, we are much better. Good to know about the Duchesses books.
Ya know, the Dark Elves kind of sucked me in. I wanted to know what was happening with the different characters and all. Jet always does that to me! lol
Ali – Thanks! Yes, Lost in Austen was cute. At first I was a little put off by the heroine who goes into the book but it ended up working for me. And the guy who played Mr. Darcy was pretty darned cute. 🙂